Stroller help: Graco or Chicco?

Ok mommies, I went and played with strollers again and I need some advice. I have realized that a lot of seats fold by pulling a thing in the middle of the seat and I hate that fold. I like the handle bar fold and I just found that in the Chicco Cortina CX system. The seat doesn't feel like it's too heavy and I like the way it folds, it's $300 at Target in Lava or $255 on BRU in Lima. Now the seat I fell in love with originally before baby is the Graco Modes which is $400 ($300 on sale online right now) for the combo so we were going to just do the stroller($250 on sale for $188 ) to save some money and use the seat my mom has (I think it's the Diono) for infant up. So I need help.

Comments (8)

I had the Chicco cortina with my first 6 years ago, I actually found it to be way too bulky and eventually got a stroller that folded smaller and had a smoother ride. I'll be getting the Chicco viaro or bravo this time around.

I got the Modes for my first 3 years ago - I was seduced by all the different configurations and it's claims of being lightweight and easy to fold/manuever. The reality is that any full-size stroller is going to be bulky and heavy so even the 'lightweight' ones are still huge. I rarely used it, and finally got around to donating it after replacing it with a Graco Breaze, which I love. It still takes the click connect baby seat, and it folds up to a very manageable size. It doesn't have the fancy bassinet or options to turn the baby to face you, but if you use it with a car seat the baby is looking at you anyways. It folds down flat enough for my baby to sleep it in, and while it's a bit shorter in the seat than the Modes, my 3.5 year old can ride in it just fine when his brother is in a baby carrier. The basket is also roomy and useful. It's taller than the cheap umbrella stroller I got with my first, so it's comfortable to push without hunching over.

If you have a big car and/or a garage to keep the big stroller in and you really want it, go for it, but don't expect it to be easy to carry around or lift in and out of a trunk or up stairs.

I always just leave the stroller in trunk. I was thinking the Modes would be good because you can turn the seat so sun or wind direction can be dealt with and also keeping little hands and feet away from things you don't want them near in stores and such. I just really hate the way the new strollers fold in half which is why the Chicco was appealing to me. I think I see more Chicco at second hand stores so I may end up going with that anyway if we can't get one new.

I've decided to go with the Chicco Bravo in Chakra. It's a softer material and the infant seat has more padding than the other color options. Not sure why. It also doesn't come in a travel system so that's disappointing since it makes it more expensive to buy the two separate.

The chicco keyfit 30 is the safest car seat on the market and has been since 2013 that I know of (consumer reports). We had that one for our son and we got the same one for baby #2. This time we got the viaro set instead of the snap n go so we could continue to use the stroller after she outgrows her seat. My son was too big for his infant seat by 6-7 months old (max length goes to 30 inches) and we had to get a convertible car seat and a new stroller bc the snap n go only works with the infant seat attached

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